Sound Shore Management Inc. CT Buys Shares of 5,367,768 The AES Co. (NYSE:AES)

Sound Shore Management Inc. CT bought a new stake in The AES Co. (NYSE:AES) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 5,367,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $69,083,000. AES comprises 2.3% of Sound Shore Management Inc. CT’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AES. Millburn Ridgefield Corp acquired a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter worth about $28,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of AES by 190.3% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 2,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 1,581 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 93.3% during the fourth quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 2,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,369 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of AES during the third quarter worth about $63,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in shares of AES by 18,047.1% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 6,136 shares during the period. 93.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AES shares. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered AES from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. HSBC started coverage on AES in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Hsbc Global Res upgraded AES to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on AES from $16.00 to $15.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.30.

AES Price Performance

NYSE:AES opened at $13.07 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $11.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.94. The AES Co. has a 12-month low of $9.88 and a 12-month high of $22.21.

AES (NYSE:AES) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $2.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.07 billion. AES had a return on equity of 27.30% and a net margin of 8.34%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.73 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that The AES Co. will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current year.

AES Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.176 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.39%. AES’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.54%.

AES Company Profile

The AES Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified power generation and utility company in the United States and internationally. The company owns and/or operates power plants to generate and sell power to customers, such as utilities, industrial users, and other intermediaries; owns and/or operates utilities to generate or purchase, distribute, transmit, and sell electricity to end-user customers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental sectors; and generates and sells electricity on the wholesale market.